Copenhagen (København)
We've heard a lot about Copenhagen in the past and were delighted to add it to out list of cities visited. We arrived on Saturday and got settled into our camper pitch. It seems to be very popular to use areas beside marinas here for camper sites. This one is no exception right by the boats.
Once settled we walked the short distance to the nearby metro station and hopped on a train to the city. The trains run every 5 minutes. Our stop was the second last stop on the yellow line with the last one being the airport. It cost £6.85 for two tickets to the city. A short time later we were emerging from the station into the bright sinshine of Copenhagen. The first thing to notice was, it was busy. Rammed. There were people everywhere but all very orderly, waiting for the traffic signals to control the cars, bikes and of course the pedestrians.
We wandered around for a while taking in the sights. I suppose a 'must see' in Copenhagen is the little mermaid statue so we headed off along the wharf to find it. More research! It was created by Edvard Eriksen and unveiled on 23 August 1913 having been commissioned by brewer Carl Jacobsen as a tribute to Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale
What a pleasant walk it was strolling alongside old buildings that look like they were industrial storehouses but which have been repurposed as apartments or offices. A room with a view.
We bought some lunch at a gourmet supermarket and enjoyed it alfresco on a bench.
After an afternoon wandering the streets and seeing what we wanted to see we headed back to the station. After we'd bought our tickets and got to the correct platform we had to wait almost two minutes for a train to arrive! Luckily we were in time for we'd have had to wait another five minutes if we had missed it.
Back at the motorhome for a gourmet dinner cooked by my gourmet chef using up the last of the gourmet crisps purchased earlier same date.
On the train back to the motorhome we had noticed a huge field containing hundreds of portaloos and tents and stuff and we surmised that there was going to be some kind of event taking place soon. On the walk back from the station we saw a sign saying "runners". Since the sign was in English we had little difficulty understanding and we further speculated that it must be a marathon.
Now as it turned out it was not a marathon but a half marathon called The Bridge Race where the runners run from Denmark to Sweden over the Øresund Bridge (Öresundsbron in Swedish, Øresundsbroen in Danish). According to my sources it is "a remarkable feat of modern engineering and a symbol of Scandinavian cooperation". It is a combined bridge, tunnel, and artificial island that connects Copenhagen (Denmark) with Malmö (Sweden) and is 16 km long. It is a 4km long tunnel starting at the Danish side follwed by a 4km long artificial island then an 8km long bridge.
OK so now you have the gist of what was happening we decided that since the start was literally 200m from our campsite that we would cheer on some of the 40000 people who were running. We speculated on how many of them were Scottish and little did we realise that Sheila's cousin Hazel's daughter, Suzanne was running the race. Not surprisingly we never saw her but she completed the course in aid of CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) in memory of her husband Rab. That's the same charity we do our K a Day in May walks for.
We did however, see a Dane (Simon) and a Swede (Ludwig) who were truly really into the spirit of friendship and cooperation and were planning to run carrying a bridge of friendship. I hope they made it.
Once the elite runners had set off on their way we cycled along the sea front which was very pleasant indeed. A nice way to spend a bit of time just chillin' and not thinking too much about anything in particular.
Today we plan to leave Denmark behind and travel across the bridge ourselves and into Sweden, our eighth country of the trip.
D, S and MJ.
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